Now many masters have fallen in love with weaving from newspaper tubes. The work is quite simple, the material is cheap, which is always present in every home. Crafts hold their shape perfectly and can be painted with both gouache and acrylic paints. In addition, weaving from newspaper tubes is a fascinating process.
You can create wonderful, and most importantly, useful crafts for the home: to weave a casket for a child for hairpins and bows, a trash bin for a student in a room, small baskets for little things when doing sewing or needlework. A large basket can be put in the bathroom for towels or dirty laundry. You can do work - weaving newspaper tubes - to do for an exhibition at school.
In the article we will dwell in detail on the process of weaving just the basket. The form is selected very different. Sometimes it’s convenient to use a round basket, but more often you need a square or rectangular one.
Let's start with an explanation for beginners, what are newspaper tubes and how they are made. You will also learn how to lengthen the details so that the joints are not visible, how to draw up the bottom of the baskets and from what they are assembled.
Procurement of material
As the name implies, newspaper tubes are curled from prints. It can be not only newspapers, but also magazines. To create blanks we use scissors:
- Newspapers are folded in a bundle so that the scissors cope with this thickness.
- The sheets are cut into wide stripes, approximately 12 cm.
- Then you need to think about which rod the sheet will be wound. Most often, they use a thin metal knitting needle for knitting with even ends. So it will be more convenient to pull the rod out of a twisted newspaper. You can also use a wooden stick for sushi.
- The edge of the newspaper strip is angled on a stick to the very end.
- The extreme corner is smeared with a brush with PVA glue and attached to the last turn. Then work continues on the rest of the details.
So that weaving from newspaper tubes is not interrupted due to lack of material, you need to make a sufficient number of them. A medium-sized basket will need 25 pieces.
Newspaper weaving ideas
Further think over what exactly you intend to weave. If you want to try to make a craft in the form of a basket, then start with simple small-sized items. The best option for weaving newspaper tubes for beginners is to create a small bucket or stand for pens on the table for the student. It is interesting to make a box with a lid as a gift to a friend or mother. A small basket with a handle can be made to buy delicate berries, such as strawberries or raspberries. So they do not deform and get to the table intact.
Also think about what shape the craft will be. The principle of weaving from newspaper tubes is the same for all varieties of the bottom, but the shape of the basket will depend on the chosen shape for the base.
How is the bottom of the basket formed?
Most often, for crafts from tubes, the bottom is cut separately from thick cardboard. Corrugated packaging material is perfect for decoration.
Cut the bottom in two copies of the selected shape - round, square, rectangular, hexagonal, etc.
Consider how the work is done on attaching newspaper tubes to the first round of cardboard, in the photo above. An example is given, as already clear, for a basket in the shape of a cylinder.
On a cardboard circle in the form of sun rays at equal distance, tubes are laid out. When all the parts are correctly placed, gluing can begin. Use PVA glue and a brush. Not only the edge itself is smeared, but also 2 cm of duct. When all the details have taken their places in the circle, you need to take an additional element and place it at an acute angle to the base. This will be the beginning of weaving a basket of newspaper tubes. At the end, a second cut cardboard circle is glued onto the PVA.
Start weaving baskets
- The workpiece has the shape of a sun with one beam located tangentially to the circle. We do not touch it yet, and the rest of the rays bend straight up at a right angle.
- Weaving is carried out precisely by the tube, which is located differently. She pushes in a zigzag pattern between vertical tubes. Fingers press it to the bottom.
- When the paper runs out, you need to extend its edge. For this, the next tube is taken, its edge is smeared with PVA and inserted inside the first. Weaving resumes.
Each tube with your fingers falls tightly to the bottom winder. You can use a stapler to secure a strip of paper in a row. This continues until the required height is reached.
Then the edge of the last tube, with which weaving was performed, is smeared with a brush with PVA glue and attached by pressing to the inside of the basket. In work, for convenience, many use clothespins so that the parts do not move.
Weaving is carried out tightly, you must constantly ensure that the horizontal tube is correctly rearranged. Make zigzag movements all the time. Once it passes inside the basket, enveloping the vertical part, another time - outside.
How to make the top row
When the weaving of the basket of newspaper tubes is over, you need to correctly fix the top row so that they do not creep along the edge during use. Vertical parts can be long, so when they reach the desired height, they are trimmed with scissors.
From the last turn of weaving to the end you need to leave only 3 cm. Next, each edge is pre-bent in different directions. The first vertical segment is bent inside the basket, the second - outward. The bends are repeated alternately until the very end. With the fingers, the folds are well smoothed so that they do not move during work.
Then you need to take a brush, smear the edge along the entire length and press down to the sides of the basket. In order not to linger for a long time in one place, fix the details with a clothespin. Thus, all segments sticking up are glued over, and an even beautiful edge is obtained.
Coloring crafts
How to weave newspaper tubes, step by step for beginners, we have already told. Now consider how to decorate the craft. Paint the basket, as mentioned above, with gouache or acrylic paints. Cover the surface, holding the basket upside down over the entire circumference with a wide brush. In order not to smear the surface of the desktop, cover it with plastic wrap.
After drying, the craft is turned to the bottom and the inner part and the upper end edge are painted. You can subsequently apply an additional layer of acrylic varnish. Then the basket will sparkle brightly under the light of electric lamps.
Bottom weaving
From newspaper tubes, you can weave a strong bottom in different ways. Try to make a simple round bottom, as in the photo below.
To get started, you will need four newspaper tubes folded in half. The first frame shows that each subsequent tube is inserted into the loop of the previous one. It turns out a square base, which is tightened tight in all four directions. Then begins the circular weaving around the workpiece.
Do this as follows:
- Take a long tube and bend it in half.
- Put it on a pair of any elements sticking out to the sides, so that her loop tightly touches them.
- Swap the upper and lower tube and tighten tightly.
- Round the next pair from two sides.
- Then you need to repeat the cross movement again and tighten the loop tightly.
- A similar action is repeated to the desired diameter of the round bottom.
If the length of the tubes is not enough, then they are lengthened. To do this, spread the edge of the newspaper with PVA glue and insert the next blank inside it. You can pin down the junction with your fingers or put on a clothespin temporarily.
Simple DIY pen
If the basket is made by a child, and it will not carry a special load, then the handle is easiest to make of one or two newspaper tubes, which are inserted into the gap between the rows on the same level on both sides of the craft. Its ends are wrapped a couple of times around the edge of the basket and glued PVA.
To hold the handle firmly, use clothespins. This method is suitable for teaching a beginner master or a child.
Consider a more complicated method, when the basket has a large load and the handle is required thicker and more reliable.
How to make a pen on a basket?
One of the simplest but strongest ways to create a handle for a made basket is a braided pigtail of several tubes. The photo below shows how they work with six newspaper tubes.
They are threaded through the needles in the middle of the craft in the right place. Then bend in half, resulting in twelve long ends.
Next, we act on the principle of weaving an ordinary pigtail. The beam is divided into three equal parts, that is, 4 pieces in each. During operation, after each bend of the tubes, they need to be pressed down with your fingers. You can put the basket upside down and lower the handle onto the table. Then it will be possible to put a heavy, flat object, which will flatten the handle to the desired state.
To ensure that the tubes do not go apart, they are fastened with clothespins. If the length is not enough, then you are already familiar with the method of lengthening them. On the opposite side, the braid with a knitting needle starts in and is attached with glue.
The article provides information about weaving a simple basket for beginners in the art of working with newspaper tubes. Try it for sure, because this is a rather fascinating and uncomplicated task!